[OT] registering a car

As a non-resident you'll probably find it impossible to insure the car yourself, and perhaps impossible even to buy it. But there are problems with having friends or relatives do it for you too.

Often insurance policies have provisions in their policies about the percentage of mileage driven by the insured owner and by others. Unless you're going to take the family member who owns and insures the car along with you and have them do most of the driving, you'll probably be violating those conditions. Won't matter, until or unless you have an accident, and then you're insurance won't be worth a cent. Beware!

There are pitfalls with renting cars too. Often the fine print that no one reads provides that if the car is driven outside of the state (or worse yet, the country) where it is rented, the rental rates rise astronomically. Recently I read about a case where an eastern Canadian resident flew to California, rented a car, and drove it through Nevada and Arizona. Upon returning it and expecting to pay several hundred dollars rental fee, he was charged several thousand dollars. How did they know? The car had On-Star installed, so they knew exactly where it had been, when, and how fast it was traveling (which is another point -- car rental agencies can levy heft surcharges if the vehicles is driven faster than some other figure specified elsewhere in the fine print).

Another neat thing that is often hidden away in the fine print of rental agreements is a clause prohibiting driving the car on unpaved roads (i.e., to all the interesting places in the backcountry).

David, happy he can drive his own Subaru Outback anywhere, and as fast as, he wants

Go to the website of the state in which you will be living. You'll find information there on driver's licensing, vehicle registration, and insurance requirements. Depending on the state, you might be able to register your vehicle online.

As far as insurance goes, if the car's title is in your relative's name and is therefore insured on their policy, you could be added onto their policy as the primary driver of that particular vehicle. Perhaps your relative could call their insurer to find out more about this.

Good luck.